Financial Author, Dave Ramsey

Every show is the same. He's not that smart, and in fact was once such a dumbass that he over-extended himself and went bankrupt.

His mantra though is sound for anyone disciplined enough to follow it:

* live below your means

* avoid debt

* save money from every paycheck

* if you can't pay cash for it, chances are you don't need it (excl. houses and cars)

* protect what you have with insurance

* build up a cash cushion in case you income stops

AND THAT'S HIS ENTIRE SCHTICK!

by Anonymous

reply 1

04/01/2013

Ramsay enourages everyone to be debt free - including no house mortgage when possible. It's about sticking to a budget throwing as much money at the debt as possible. No going out to eat, movies, cars etc.

On one show, he actually said he buys all of his property with cash now.

by Anonymous

reply 2

04/01/2013

He warns everyone that filing bankruptcy will ruin their lives and that they should avoid it at all costs, when he obviously recovered from his own. My only regret about filing Chapter 7 is that I didn't do it 3 years earlier. My credit and finances have recovered, and I have virtually no credit. I learned my lesson.

by Anonymous

reply 3

04/01/2013

It's overly simplistic advice, but listen to the horror stories his listeners tell, and it's probably as much as they can handle.

I want to dislike the guy, mostly because he's on right before Rush Limbaugh, but I really can't disagree with much he says. Sure, there's a whiff of conman and carnival barker about him, and it's funny how his budgets seem to include enough to buy his books, tapes and seminars, but maybe his listeners need that reinforcement.

What's amazing is that we seem to graduate high school students without giving them as much financial education he dispenses on AM radio in an hour.

by Anonymous

reply 4

04/01/2013

I've seen posts on this site with people in excess of 100K in cc debt yet they snub Ramsay's advice. LOL

by Anonymous

reply 5

04/06/2013

The only reason people listen to his radio program is because I like to hear people even more financially fucked up than they are.

Like going to the mall when you feel you're ugly just so you can see uglier people.

by Anonymous

reply 6

04/06/2013

I wonder if we're related?

by Anonymous

reply 7

04/06/2013

No R6, you have to venture out to the county fairs to feel like a beauty queen.

I can smell the peer pressure off of these callers and the entitlement attitude they have. My, my, how everyone thinks they have to drive a new car or live in a mansion. Oh, and vacations--everyone has to take an expensive vacation just to show off the photographs to their unimpressed neighbors.

No one in America brags about how they manage to save every month or sacrifice pleasure tripsfor economic security.

Americans put more money into material goods but have shit-can bodies.

by Anonymous

reply 8

04/06/2013

It is sad that people need to be practically whipped into understanding by being told the same thing over and over again. There is always some insecurity issue that needs to be dealt with before his message can finally stick.

by Anonymous

reply 9

04/06/2013

Ramsey is also the creator of Financial Peace University, a biblically-based video training series for adults.

by Anonymous

reply 10

04/06/2013

[all posts by ham-fisted troll a removed.]

by Anonymous

reply 11

04/06/2013

But it's not sticking, R9.

Oliver Stone said one great thing: Americans are drug addicts because our culture is too materialistic. I'm not saying it's just us either: good god, Asians may be worse. However, we have to worry about ourselves.

Our media perpetuates the mythology of material wealth through rap music, t.v. shows where everyone lives in a big house, and films where everyone lives comfortably.

I have noticed that Japanese-Americans are big on saving, and will do without showy lifestyles to maintain financial balance.

Koreans are the opposite: they are all about the bling. Many Philipinos are the same. So are El Savadoreans--gold teeth, new car but live in shitty neighborhoods.

Of course I am generalizing but you see my point. The whole world has to show off.

by Anonymous

reply 12

04/06/2013

Financial guru Dave Ramsey: “I LOVE Chick-fil-A food and Dan Cathy is a personal friend. I will be buying a biscuit on Aug. 1 to tell them I love them. Join me.”

by Anonymous

reply 13

04/06/2013

Naked pix please before I can comment.

by Anonymous

reply 14

04/06/2013

"HI, Dave, how are you?"

"Better than I deserve. What's going on?"

by Anonymous

reply 15

04/06/2013

I always find his rage at personal bankruptcy and simultaneous rationalization of business bankruptcy amusing and typical of the Right-wing mentality. Also their discomfort with the fact that their beloved "Founding Fathers" were themselves a bunch of bankrupts who enshrined the right to bankruptcy in the Constitution, thus preventing the creditor class from completely eliminating it or criminalizing debt as they would like to. It's an interesting ideological dance that he does.

by Anonymous

reply 16

04/06/2013

[all posts by ham-fisted troll a removed.]

by Anonymous

reply 17

04/06/2013

I agree with most of Dave's advice. I dislike him for some reasons mainly as another poster pointed out his friendship with Dan Cathy. He makes a good portion of his income holding conferences at megachurches all over the country. Some of the megachurches he visits have huge debts.

by Anonymous

reply 18

04/06/2013

He believes everyone who has a poorly paying job can just go out and get a better one, deliver pizzas or cut grass on the side to make "extra," thinks money is something god gives you to "manage" and if you cut up your credit cards, god will find a way to reward you. He tells his listeners that if they have faith in "christ jesus" and manage their money according to biblical principles, they will become wealthy because god wants you to be wealthy as long as you do it his way. He never, ever calls out his listeners who have more kids than they can afford that perhaps having all those kids was the reason they're in debt, and never, ever acknowledges that the largest indicator of poverty in this country is single parenthood. Because children are a blessing and all and apparently financially null.

by Anonymous

reply 19

04/06/2013

[quote]Ramsay enourages everyone to be debt free - including no house mortgage when possible.

That's really dumb advice for anyone other than retirees, especially with interest rates at historic lows. And why would you want to give up your mortgage-interest deduction, or tie up so much money in an asset that is unlikely to appreciate significantly? If we have another housing dip, I wouldn't want all that money sitting in an asset that I couldn't sell.

by Anonymous

reply 20

04/06/2013

R20. I wondered about the "no mortgage" advice myself. I'm not sure about Ramsay's reasoning, but he probably things the deduction isn't worth it or will be going away.

by Anonymous

reply 21

04/06/2013

He'd make a really hot leather daddy. I first noticed him on local billboards advertising his show on talk radio and was disappointed to find out he's a right-wing fundie shithead.

by Anonymous

reply 23

04/06/2013

"Good grief," r17? Ooh, the burn!

by Anonymous

reply 24

04/06/2013

I agree with the posters who both dislike him but find his financial advice more or less sound. R1 has it right.

He's the red-state Suze Orman. I can tolerate his show since he mostly sticks to financial issues. It can be somewhat comforting to hear callers in financial situations more fucked up than your own. Still, it gets irritating when he drifts to the religious or political, which is not infrequent. I've never personally heard anything especially egregious, but you always think he's about a half-sentence away from saying Obama is a welfare loving communist who hates God.

As far as paying down the mortgage, it's a fairly complicated issue-- certainly more complicated than Dave makes it out to be-- but for the vast majority of people, Dave knows it's a better bet than what else they would likely do with their money (which is not invest elsewhere, but blow it).

by Anonymous

reply 25

04/06/2013

There's something about his conversational tone that leads me to tune in. But usually within 20 seconds I become incensed at the content of his show.

It bugs me that he's so folksy and down-to-earth but is probably himself a zillionaire from selling his "financial courses" which he weaves into his advice.

Recently he's been bitching about the income inequality gap...that if you want to get paid, then you need to work. It's that easy. And, according to DR, the zillionaires deserve to be zilionaires because they took the necessary risks to become rich.

My step-sis loves him. She rents a condo on a beach and makes less money than me. She's getting a roommate to help pay the rent...she's got to be in her 50s by now. But she's certain she's right.

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